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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

4 Ideas for Dealing with Tattling!

If you have dealt with the issue of constant tattling, either as a parent, caregiver, or teacher.... maybe one of these options will work for you:

"My Shoes are Brown!" - One second grade teacher I know uses this nonsense phrase every time a child tattles to him. He simply repeats it when they persist. If they ask, "Why are you saying that?", he might answer "Why do you think?" He does not engage in discussion, respond to the tattling, or explain what he is doing. The kids figure it out.

Some parents have tried responding to the tattler with the Love and Logic problem solving approach, "What are you going to do about that?" (see the archive on this blog)

Offer a choice: "Oh Man! That's terrible. Do you want to keep playing with your sister or do something else?"

Use the "Energy Drain" technique (see the archive) and say,"Oh man, listening to tattling drains my energy!" Then later when they want something explain that you have no energy to take them to do that because you had to listen to the tattling.